1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antiglare film which, in use, is disposed on the front of various display devices, such as liquid crystal display devices, or an antiglare film which is durable against touch inputting. The present invention also relates to a production process which can produce said antiglare film with high efficiency by means of a molding tool having concaves and convexes on its surface, preferably a molding roller. Further, the present invention relates to a display device comprising said antiglare film disposed on the front of a liquid crystal display device or the like.
2. Background Art
Various display devices (=displays) for displaying static images or moving images according to electronic information are known, and CRTs, plasma displays, liquid crystal displays, electroluminescence displays and the like are currently on the market.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a liquid crystal display device 100. The liquid crystal display device 100 comprises: a liquid crystal panel 101 comprising two polarizing plates 101a, 101a′ and a liquid crystal display cell 101b sandwiched between the two polarizing plates 101a, 101a′; and a surface light source device 102 disposed on the underside (as viewed in the drawing) (which, in use of the liquid crystal display device 100, corresponds to a side opposite to the viewer side) of the liquid crystal display device 100.
The surface light source device 102 comprises, for example, a reflector plate 103, a light guide plate 104 having a dot pattern 104a on its underside, a light diffusive film 105, a lens sheet 106, and a protective film 107 provided in that order from the lower side.
In driving a liquid crystal display device to view images, an image of an object present behind the viewer is reflected from the screen of the liquid crystal display, and the viewer often catches the reflected image. In particular, when there is indoor lighting equipment and outdoor light behind the viewer, an image of the sun or the like is reflected from the display. This significantly deteriorates the visibility of images.
A touch panel is one input means of computers. Among others, a touch panel operated on the screen of display devices is convenient because sites to be selected and touched can be freely prepared and displayed on the screen of the display devices.
Touch inputting with high frequency is causative of the deposition of fingerprints or the occurrence of scratches, and, in this case, in addition, various types of durability are required of the touch panel.
In order to prevent a catch of an image of indoor lighting equipment or the sun on the screen, a matte film prepared by coating a coating composition with organic or inorganic fine beads incorporated therein onto a transparent plastic film and then drying or solidifying the coating to form an antiglare layer has hitherto been used.
Organic or inorganic fine beads, which have hitherto been used in the antiglare film, however, suffer from an unavoidable problem that the beads come off in service and scratch the antiglare film. In addition, at the time of the production of the antiglare film, in coating the coating composition with beads incorporated thereinto, unfavorable phenomena, such as occurrence of streaks or uneven coating, occur making it difficult to provide even antiglare properties.
Further, in using the antiglare film thus obtained as a surface material of a touch panel, beads, which have come off, scratches the antiglare film upon the application of pressure by a finger or a touch pen. Thus, the beads accelerate the occurrence of scratches.